Hair thinning device



Jan. l2, 1937. D. PERLSON HAIR THINNING DEVICE Filed Jan, 23, 1936 N O Rm OR ME ED.. V mm m D ATTORNEY atentecl Jan. 12, 19371 PATENT orales HAIR THINNING DEVICE David Perlson, Brooklyn, N. Y., assigner to Bresyduck, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application January 23, 1936, Serial No. 60,430

9 Claims.

The invention relates to a device for cutting hair and more specifically relates to a device for thinning out from a head of hair limited amounts of the hair in` the act of combing the hair into' 5, strands.

. The invention features in superposed relation a comb, a cutter blade and a guard all demountably assembled to form a comb-like cutter.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a simplified form of device of the type outlined. The invention as it relates to the component parts of the completed device features parts which. can be readily constructed; and which can be readily replaced in the assembly if damaged. The disclosure particularly features in theV cutting blade the use of a straight cutting edgewhich will lend itself to conventional blade sharpening practices. In general with the device herein disclosed a dull blade may be quickly demounted, sharpened as a razor may be sharpened and'remounted in the assembly and thus quickly provide a fresh, clean and sharp instrument. Various other objects and advantages of the in- `.vention will be in part obvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawing and in part will be more fully set forth in the following parlticular description of one form of the device em- ;bodying the invention, and the invention also .consists in certain new and novel features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a View in elevation of one end of a ,comb construction illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention and of which the other end (not shown) is a continuation of and forms the other end of the comb illustrated;

Fig. 2 is a View of the guard and cutter blade `of Figpl with the comb removed and with the central part of the cutter blade broken away to show otherwise hidden parts of the guard;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the cutter blade shown Ain the preceding figures; and

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the plane indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Referring particularly to the showing in Figs. 1 and 4, there is disclosed a comb I of somewhat conventional design provided with spaced teeth l l terminating in a toothed edge l2 and forming spaced apart, parallel and elongated openings I3 between the teeth. Positioned on one side of the comb, that is on the rear side of Fig. 1, is a cutter blade I4 provided with a straight cutting edge l5 and with a pair of screw receiving apertures 55 I6. The cutter blade is located relative to the teeth Il so as to extend transversely of the length of the teeth, that is parallel to the edge l2 and across the openings I3 of at least a group of the openings and which group is in spaced relation to the adjacent end of the comb.

The Cutter blade is overlapped by a guard Il which extends alongthe back I8 of the comb and is outlined at the top and end with a flange I9 which assists in retaining the guard and associated parts in place. The guard is provided with a guard edge 2B, the end portions 2l and 22 of which are straight and the part therebetween forms a tooth-like or serrated edge 23. The straight end portions 2l and 22 are each provided on theside thereof which contacts with the comb with a set of parallel ribs 24 which are relatively long and engage in the adjacent openings of the comb and fit between the root ends of the associated teeth as shown in Fig. 1. Between the two sets of ribs 2li the guard is provided close to its edge 2| with a plurality of lugs 25 of relatively short length compared to the ribs and these lugs are so spaced apart that they engage in the alternate spaces between the teeth as shown in Fig. 1.` These lugs 25 are disposed in line and provide advance stops or abutments for the cutting edge of the cutter blade as particularly shown in Fig. 2. Between the lugs 25 the serrated edge 23 is formed with cuts or slots 26 disposed to lap the cutting edge u and to registerl with the alternate comb tooth openings, that is the openings between those into which the lugs 25 intrude. Dierently described, it will be understood that the right side of the comb in Fig. l has at opposite ends of the guard and beyond the blade two sets of ribs intruded into the adjacent comb openings. Then the group of comb openings adjacent the center of the showing in Fig. l has a slot 26 registering with the rst comb opening, then a lug 25 intruded into the second comb opening and alternately a slot and a lug at each succeeding pair of comb openings.

From this construction it will be seen that the portions of the guard which are provided with the lugs 25 overlap 'and thus conceal the portions of the cutting edge which face alternate spaces in the comb teeth and that the gaps or slots 26- in the guard expose the cutting edge to the spaces between the remaining teeth of the group of teeth traversed by the cutting edge. The short lengths of exposed cutting edge are shown at 2'! and the concealed lengths are shown at 28 in Fig. 1.

The guard is provided witlr a pair of studs 29 which extend through the apertures It in the cutter blade and into screw holes 3U provided therefore in the back of the comb. Broad headed screws 3| t in countersunk recesses 32 and thus are positioned within the outline of the back of the comb and act to secure the guard and with it the cutter blade in position on the comb.

In operation it will be understood that the head of hair is combed conventionally to permit the operator to determine where the portions are to be thinned or cut out and it is herein suggested that the portion of the combV not illustrated in Fig. 1 may be of conventional construction and utilized for this preliminary combing step in the operation. Then by reversing the comb and utilizing the previously used portion as a handle the part of Fig. 1 illustrated is drawn through the hair in that portion which is desired to be cut. It will be understood that this operation divides the hair into small strands, the strands passing relatively through the openings between the teeth of the comb. In the' specific form of the device illustrated it will be appreciated that alternate strands, that is, the strands which are permitted to move into the slots 26 of the guard, will come in contact with the cutting edges 2 of the blade and will. be severed thereby. At the same time the strands which are moving through the comb spaces where the tooth forming portions of the guard are in advance of the cutting edge, that is the portions' provided with the lugs 25, such strands will not be cut but will pass idly through the comb teeth. Theoretically then, at each stroke of the comb the path of the hair which is crossed by the cutting edge is cut in closely positioned but spaced alternate strands leaving the other strands uncut. In actual practice, however, some of the strands pass through the teeth openings which have portions of the cutting edges exposed so that in practice it is required that portions of the head of hair must be repeatedly combed and thus thinned out until the proper amount of hair has been cut away.

Whenever it is necessary to clean or replace any of the component parts, it is simply necessary to loosen the screws and the three major parts are separated and exposed for cleaning. As the cutter blade is simply a thin sheet of metal with a straight cutting edge, it can be honed, stoned, stropped and otherwise sharpened following conventional practices in sharpening razors and razor blades.

While there have been shown, described, and pointed out in the annexed claims, certain novel features of the invention, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A device for thinning out hair from a head of hair, comprising in side abutting relation a comb, a cutter blade having a straight cutting edge extending transversely of a group of the comb teeth in spaced relation to the teeth at opposite ends of the comb, and a guard having a flange overlapping an edge of the comb, said guard provided with two sets of ribs at opposite ends thereof projecting beyond the adjacent ends' of the cutter blade and intruded into the adjacent tooth spaces and also provided between the sets with a set of lugs fitting in the spaces between certain teeth of said group and having a tooth-like edge with the teeth forming said edge extending across alternate spaces between the teeth of said group to thus conceal the portions of the cutting edge which bridges said alternate spaces and the spaces between the guard teeth located in registry with the other comb spaces of said group thereby to expose the portions of the I cutting edge of the blade which bridges said other comb spaces.

2. A device for thinning out a head of hair, comprising a toothed member for separating the hair into strands with a pair of adjacent strands located in the two spaces between three teeth of said member, said two spaces being of the same length, a cutter engaging said member on one sideV thereof and having a straight cutting edge extending continuously across said pair of spaces, and a guard having a serrated edge portion of which a part is disposed across one of said spaces in advance of the cutting edge to prevent contact between the hair in said space and said cutting edge and having another part in rear of the cutting edge to permit contact between the hair in the other space and said straight cutting edge.

3. 'Ihe combination of a comb, a cutter blade secured to one side of the comb and a guard for the blade, said guard having a serrated edge extending transversely of the combteeth adjacent their underlengths and provided with means vengaging in the spaces between certain of thecomb teeth for locating the serrated edge with its toothlike portions in advance of the spaced apart por.- tions of the cutting edge which bridges alternate spaces between the comb teeth and with` the spaces between the tooth-like portions of the guard registering with the other tooth spaces and acting to expose the portions of the cutting edge which bridges the other comb tooth spaces.

4. In a device for cutting hair, the combination of a cutter having a straight cutting edge, means in advance of the edge for dividing the hair into a plurality of strands, guard means for intercepting the contact between certain of the strands and the cutting edge as the device is, moved through the hair in a direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the length of the straight cutting edge thereby to prevent the severing of such strands and for permitting others of the strands to contact with the cutting edge and readily separable fastening means for locating the guard means relative to the hair dividing means.

5. A hair cutting device comprising a comb of conventional design, a cutter blade secured to one side of the comb and having a cutting edge extending substantially parallel to theline deiined by the root ends of the teeth of the comb and extending across a group of comb teeth, a guard having a serrated edge positioned between the toothed edge of the comb and the cutting edge of the cutter blade, certain of the guard teeth overlapping the cutting ledgev and certain of the spaces between the guard teeth registering with certain of the spaces between the teeth of said group andl thusexposing the portions of the cuttingv edge which extend across said last named certain spaces and means for demountably securingV the guard to the comb with the cutter blade therebetween.

6. In a device of the class described, the combination of a blade having a cutting edge, toothed means including a set of spaced apart parallel teeth with those teeth which face the blade extending transversely acrossthe cutting 75 edge and havingy free ends defining a line in spaced relation to the cutting edge, said teeth forming equi-length parallel spaces between them, and guard means separable from both the blade and toothed means and located opposite certain of said spaces and between the cutting edge and said line for intercepting access to the cutting edge along said certain spaces and means for securing together the blade, guard means and toothed means.

7. In a device of the class described, the combination of a blade having a cutting edge, toothed means including a set of spaced apart parallel teeth of substantially equal length extending transversely across the cutting edge and having free ends dening a line in spaced relation to the cutting edge, said teeth forming parallel spaces between them, and a toothed member having certain of its teeth located opposite certain of said parallel spaces in the area between the cutting edge and said line and said toothed member having certain of the spaces between its teeth registering with others of the parallel spaces in the toothed means to expose the portions of the cutting' edge wl'iich extends across said other parallel spaces.

8. In a device of the class described, the combination of a guard having a flange at one edge and a serrated edge opposite the ange, the portion of the guard forming the serrated edge provided with a plurality of lugs spaced apart in E line, a cutter blade fitted between the flange and lugs and having its cutting edge engaging the lugs and an end portion of the guard beyond the blade provided with ribs and means for securing the guard to the cutter blade.

9. In a device of the class described, the combination of a comb provided in its back portion with a pair of countersunk recesses and having a pair of apertures extending through the comb at said recesses, a guard provided with a pair of integral studs extending through the apertures, screws having their heads within the recesses and engaging in the studs to secure the guard to the comb and a cutter between the comb and guard within the outlines of both comb and cutter, and said cutter provided with a pair of apertures through which the studs extend.

DAVID PERLSON. 

